The United States is set to pull troops from five Afghan bases under a proposed deal with the Taliban, the US envoy leading talks with the group said in some of the first confirmed details of a much-anticipated accord.

Officials signed a short-term agreement on Sunday to boost South Korea's contribution toward the upkeep of US troops on the peninsula, after a previous deal lapsed amid US President Donald Trump's call for the South to pay more.

Pushing back against Republican opposition, US President Donald Trump reaffirmed his determination to pull US troops out of "endless wars" in Syria and Afghanistan, in an interview that aired yesterday.

President Donald Trump appeared Monday to water down shock plans for an immediate pullout of US troops from Syria, even as he defiantly claimed his achievements in the conflict should make him a "national hero."